Meet the Board

Brian Argrett – Chair

President and CEO of City First Broadway

Brian has extensive expertise in financing companies in underserved communities with both debt and equity. Previous to joining City First Bank (now City First Broadway) in 2011, Brian founded and was the managing partner of both Fulcrum Capital Group and Fulcrum Capital Partners, LP, as well as President and CEO of Fulcrum Venture Capital Corporation. Prior to joining Fulcrum, Brian was an attorney with a real estate law firm. He has served on the boards of First Federal Financial Corporation, First Federal Bank of California, and Family Savings Bank, and also was a presidential appointee during the Obama administration to the Community Development Advisory Board.

Currently Brian is a director on the Board of the Federal Home Loan Bank of Atlanta; he has served as Chair of, and continues to serve on the board of, the Community Development Bankers Association and is a member of the Global Alliance for Banking on Values and the Steering Committee of the Expanding Black Business Credit Initiative. Brian is a member of the Federal City Council and the Economic Club of Washington, DC, a member of the Deputy Mayor for Planning and Economic Development’s Economic Strategy Advisory Committee, the DC Attorney General’s Business Advisory Committee, the 11th Street Bridge Park Kitchen Cabinet, the National Association of Corporate Directors, and the Governing Board of Mosaic Theater Company of Washington, DC. Brian holds a bachelor’s degree in commerce from the University of Virginia and Juris Doctor and a master’s in business administration from the University of California, Berkeley.

Lori Chatman

President, Capital Division, Enterprise Community Partners

With more than 30 years of community development and social impact experience, Lori manages one of the nation’s largest affordable housing finance platforms, more than $16 billion, with a full suite of equity, debt, and tax credit products. Previously, she served as president of Enterprise’s CDFI, the Enterprise Community Loan Fund. In that role, she oversaw billions of dollars in affordable housing investments. Lori is also an architect of Equitable Path Forward, Enterprise’s $3.5 billion initiative to address racial inequities in the real estate industry by investing in developers of color through a wide range of capital products, including grants, debt, and equity.

Prior to joining Enterprise, Lori was the director of lending for the Calvert Social Investment Foundation (now Calvert Impact Capital). She serves as a board member of Appalachian Community Capital and the Hopewell Fund, and holds a bachelor’s degree from Howard University.

Annie Donovan, Secretary

President & CEO, Raza Development Fund

Annie Donovan is Raza Development Fund’s President & CEO. Donovan brings a wealth of experience in the CDFI sector. For decades she has been driving impact investing strategies to spur economic opportunity and revitalize communities. She served in the White House Office of Social Innovation and as the Director of the U.S. Department of the Treasury’s Community Development Financial Institutions Fund, where she directed a multi-billion-dollar portfolio of programs aimed at improving access to capital for disinvested communities across the country. She has held top executive positions at Capital Impact Partners (now Momentus Capital), and Local Initiatives Support Corporation (LISC), where she worked to propel these organizations to greater levels of growth and impact.

Donovan’s passion for community development and sustainability began with her service in the U.S. Peace Corps. Today, Donovan is an accomplished leader in the industry and a published writer. She has published many articles on economic and community development, health, climate, and impact investing. Donovan has been a keynote speaker and guest lecturer to share her extensive knowledge. She has an undergraduate degree in Economics and an MBA in Finance.

Priya Jayachandran

CEO, National Housing Trust

Serving at the helm of National Housing Trust for four years and in the sector for many years longer, Priya is committed to preservation of home, opportunity, and dignity through affordable housing. She leads the organization’s engagement in public policy, lending, and energy sustainability. Previously, Priya led Housing Development at Volunteers of America, where she managed the strategic direction, acquisition, and development of rental housing. She also served in the Obama Administration at the Department of Housing and Urban Development as Senior Policy Advisor, Director of the front office of Multifamily Housing, and, ultimately, as Deputy Assistant Secretary for Multifamily Housing Programs.

Prior to joining HUD, Priya spent more than 15 years in community development real estate banking in New York and Washington, DC. She has also worked as a consultant to women’s microcredit organizations in La Paz, Bolivia; as an investment banking analyst for Credit Suisse; and as a Capital Fellow for California State Treasurer Kathleen Brown. Priya earned her bachelor’s degree from the University of California and her master’s in public administration from Princeton University.

Amber Kuchar-Bell

Chief Strategy and Operations Officer, Opportunity Finance Network

Amber Kuchar-Bell is the Chief Strategy and Operations Officer at Opportunity Finance Network. She is responsible for strategic initiatives, corporate budgeting, and facilitating partnerships with major financial institutions, philanthropy, and new corporate partners.

Prior to joining OFN, Amber was the CDFI Program and NACA Program Manager at the Community Development Financial Institutions Fund (CDFI Fund). She was responsible for the design and implementation of a $1.25 billion CDFI Rapid Response Program to help CDFIs respond to the economic hardships caused by the COVID-19 pandemic and managed over $200 million annually in grants and loans to over 300 organizations.

Amber was also an investment officer for the Calvert Impact Capital, where she managed a $68 million investment portfolio of CDFIs including Native CDFIs, CDEs, and social enterprise organizations. Before joining Calvert Foundation, Amber worked at Capital Impact Partners, also a CDFI, as a commercial loan underwriter where she underwrote loans for healthcare centers, affordable housing cooperatives, and charter schools. Early in her career, Amber was Sr. Consumer Lending Loan Officer at a CDFI Credit Union, Bay Federal Credit Union. She has a Master of Public Policy from Duke University located in Durham, North Carolina, and a Bachelor of Science in International Development from the University of California Los Angeles.

William Longbrake

Executive in Residence, Robert H. Smith School of Business, University of Maryland

A Director since 2011, William serves on both the CFE and City First Broadway boards of directors. As Executive in Residence at the Robert H. Smith School of Business at the University of Maryland, he participates in the Center for Financial Policy. He also is active in numerous academic, business, and community service organizations. William has extensive experience in finance and investments, macroeconomics and monetary policy, risk management, housing, and public policy. He writes a monthly economic newsletter for Squire Patton Boggs. Previously, he served in senior government positions including at the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency and the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation.

William is past Chair of the Board of Trustees of the College of Wooster and past Chair of the Board of HOPE LoanPort. He is a director of the Washington State Investment Board and of the Boeing Employees Credit Union, as well as a member of the Mortgage Markets Committee of the American Bankers Association. He also served as a Director of First Financial Northwest, the Federal Home Loan Bank of Seattle, and the Washington Financial League. William earned his bachelor’s degree from the College of Wooster, and his master’s degree in monetary economics and master’s in business administration from the University of Wisconsin. He received his Ph.D. in finance from the University of Maryland.

Estrella Lucero

Attorney, Goldfarb & Lipman

Estrella Lucero is an associate attorney in the San Diego office of Goldfarb & Lipman. Goldfarb & Lipman is a leading affordable housing and community economic development law firm in California. Prior to joining Goldfarb & Lipman, Estrella worked as a real estate associate attorney in the Los Angeles office of Gibson Dunn.

Estrella earned her law degree from Yale Law School, where she served on the executive board of Volume 131 of the Yale Law Journal and received the Yale Law Women+ Excellence Award for Outstanding Leadership. While at school, she was a member of the Ludwig Center for Community & Economic Development, where she worked with affordable housing developers and community development financial institutions.

Previously, Estrella worked as a Program Manager for Equality California in Los Angeles. She graduated from the Coro Fellows Program in Public Affairs in 2015 and earned her undergraduate degree from Occidental College, magna cum laude, in 2014.

David J. McGrady, Vice-Chair

Community Development Consultant

David is a consultant specializing in community development issues and is a nationally recognized expert on the New Markets Tax Credit program. He has been a key advisor on more than 30 successful New Markets Tax Credit applications, with allocations totaling more than $1.7 billion, and has assisted those recipients in developing and implementing capitalization and deployment plans in their respective markets. He also advises banks, investors, foundations, municipalities, and CDFIs on a range of issues, including corporate structure and governance, capitalization, market and risk assessment, product development, underwriting loans and investments, portfolio management, and tax credit programs. Mr. McGrady was Director of Commercial Programs for the Center for Community Self-Help in Durham, North Carolina. Under his leadership, the Center for Community Self-Help originated over 1,300 higher-risk business loans totaling more than $80 million. He is also a director of City First Enterprises, which is the bank holding company of our Company, chair of City First Enterprises’ Directors Loan Committee, and a member of Calvert Impact Capital’s Investment Committee. Mr. McGrady received his bachelor’s degree from King University and a law degree from Harvard. Prior to the completion of the Merger, Mr. McGrady served as a Director on the Board of CFBanc since 1998 and was appointed to be a director of the Company upon completion of the Merger.

Mr. McGrady’s experience in corporate governance and community development matters and legal expertise, as well as his background in finance and the real estate, mortgage, and tax credit industries, qualify him to serve as a member of the Board.

Cantwell Muckenfuss

Clinical Visiting Lecturer in Law, Yale University

Mr. Muckenfuss has fifty years of senior experience in the financial services industry, including thirty-three years as a partner at Gibson Dunn and public service as Senior Deputy Comptroller of the Currency and as Counsel to the Chairman of the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation. He is active as an advisor and investor in connection with them.

Mr. Muckenfuss has been involved in community economic development throughout his career. He is a past Chairman of the Board and a co-founder of City First Bank of DC and is currently a Board member and past Chairman of the Board of City First Enterprises. Mr. Muckenfuss is a Clinical Visiting Lecturer at the Yale Law School in the Community Economic Development Clinic.

He is also a member of the Boards of the Roosevelt Institute, Grasshopper Bank, FinRegLab, the Alliance for Innovative Regulation, and the Arts Arena International.

Mr. Muckenfuss received his Bachelor of Arts degree from Vanderbilt University and his law degree from Yale Law School. He clerked in the 6th Circuit and, after his clerkship, served as an attorney and project developer for the Bedford-Stuyvesant Restoration Corporation.

Shannon Scott, Treasurer

Chief Financial Officer, New Venture Fund

As Chief Financial Officer at New Venture Fund, Shannon Scott provides strategic and administrative leadership to effectively serve as a thoughtful business partner to the leadership team regarding the short-term and long-term financial health and sustainability of the New Venture Fund. She translates the New Venture Fund’s strategic vision into a financial and operational structure that is fiscally responsible and supportive of the mission. Additionally, she works closely with the New Venture Fund’s Board of Directors, oversees external partnerships with banking and accounting providers, manages the New Venture Fund board’s finance committee, and represents the New Venture Fund in conversations with donors and project staff.

Prior to joining the New Venture Fund, Shannon spent over four years at the Greater Washington Community Foundation, where she also served as CFO and set financial policy and strategy. She also served as CFO at the National Housing Trust and the Council on Foundations, and spent over 12 years at Capital Impact Partners, a community development financial institution providing capital and technical assistance for community groups.

Shannon holds a BA in accounting from George Washington University and an MBA in finance from the University of Maryland’s Robert H. Smith School of Business. Additionally, Shannon owns a photography business.

Oswaldo Acosta

President and Executive Director, City First Enterprises

As Executive Director of CFE, Oswaldo Acosta drives the organization’s vision and strategic direction to fulfill our work of delivering capital to underserved markets across diverse lending categories. Since joining CFE in 2019, Oswaldo has led the company through significant innovation and growth, including its expansion into new sectors such as clean energy and residential mortgages. Under his leadership, CFE’s total assets have grown by 4x, with an impressive 40% annual average growth rate in the lending portfolio. This success has been supported by nearly $70 million in capital raised from a variety of sources, including state, federal, and philanthropic grants, as well as commercial banks and private investor funding. 

Oswaldo holds a bachelor’s degree in economics from the Monterrey Institute of Technology, a master’s degree in political economy from the University of Essex, and a master’s degree in economic regulation from the London School of Economics and Political Science. 

Beyond his role at CFE, Oswaldo serves on several boards, including the Vermont Energy Investment Corporation (VEIC), the Coalition for Green Capital (CGC), and Momentus Capital. He recently concluded his term on the Federal Reserve Bank of Richmond’s Community Investment Council. His leadership continues to drive innovation, sustainability, and economic growth in the energy and financial sectors.